The Process of a Truck Accident Lawsuit
Accidents involving trucks can cause serious and permanent injuries. They can result in substantial medical expenses as well as psychological harm.
Your lawyer will make an Summons and Complaint against all liable parties. The process can take a few years. Your lawyer can help determine if any shared responsibility has been properly assessed and allocated.
Investigations
A truck accident could be more severe than an auto accident. A truck accident could result in life-changing effects. The impact is more complex due to the weight and size. These incidents also require more complicated investigation.
To protect their interests, trucking companies or insurance companies often conduct their investigations as soon as they are aware of the incident. The issue is that victims are left to manage their injuries, and aren't being able to gather evidence. This puts them at a disadvantage compared to the insurance provider and trucking company.
A skilled attorney for truck accidents will seek evidence from various sources such as police reports, witness statements, and inspections of vehicles. A lawyer who is well-informed is not relying on reports from the police as they can be insufficient for civil litigation. Police officers might not be trained to conduct an inquiry correctly and may not collect all the evidence required to support a lawsuit.
Other kinds of information include logbook records, maintenance and service records for the truck, data from the event data recorder (also called a black box) and many more. An experienced attorney will seek these as well as other types of evidence from the truck driver and the trucking company and carefully examine the evidence to determine what led to the accident.
Expert Witnesses
A truck accident expert witness can aid your attorney in proving various aspects of the case. For example an expert in medical science will provide your lawyer with evidence that the crash resulted in your injuries. Your expert can also testify on the impact your injuries could have on your future quality of life. Expert witnesses can assist your lawyer determine your damages including lost income and future earning capacity.
Experts can review physical evidence and explain the impact of your injury on your future. For instance, a medical expert can explain how your accident will impact your physical and mental well-being. A metallurgist is an additional type of expert who can determine the reasons why a car component failed. There are also experts who analyze how the weather may have caused the crash.
The primary function of your expert witness is to examine the evidence and offer an objective and impartial opinion. Certain expert witnesses could be a liability to your case in the event that their opinions are biased or they are associated with the defendants. Your attorney can perform a background check on the expert witness to determine any potential risks.
santa monica truck accident lawsuit will interview you, along with any other eyewitnesses who witnessed the accident prior to it taking place. It is important to note that the defendants' insurance firms will try to convince you to acknowledge fault or make statements they can twist and distort to weaken your claim.
Litigation
Truck drivers are also required to obey traffic laws and operate with reasonable care. If they do not comply and their negligence causes an accident, then they could be held responsible for the damages caused by the accident victims suffer.
To prove the defendant's negligence, our attorney will gather a number of eyewitnesses who witnessed the crash and provide oral or written evidence of how the collision occurred. Our team will also look at a wide range of other evidences, including skid marks and points of impact, as well as conduct crash tests.
Sometimes the cause of a truck accident is complicated and involves multiple parties. For instance, if a truck crash was caused by defective equipment or improper maintenance, we might sue the manufacturers of that equipment or the trucks themselves. We could also sue the mechanic who made the repairs or the repair shop.
We will endeavor to resolve your case out of court, but in the event that the trucking company, or its insurance company is unwilling to accept a fair settlement offer then we will prepare for trial. In a trial, a jury or judge will decide on the dispute like who was at fault and what amount of compensation you'll receive. The legal damages you receive will be calculated based on the total of your losses, which includes financial, physical and emotional suffering.
Statute of Limitations
While the legal process following a crash with a truck can be confusing, knowing the way these cases are handled will help you anticipate what is ahead and give you a better idea of how long your case will take.
Finding out who is responsible is one of the most important steps. It is possible that a trucker who was drowsy, distracted, or otherwise impaired will be held responsible for the damage you suffered. However, there might be other parties equally responsible. For instance, if a crash was caused by poor repairs such as a mechanic who performed the work or a company who made the truck or its components could be held responsible according to the legal doctrine of respondeat superior.
It's also possible that the accountable party did a greater act of recklessness, which might entitle you to punitive damages. To prove this, we need to prove that the liable party acted in reckless disregard to your safety, or that of others.
It is important to work with an attorney who is familiar with the complexities involved in truck accidents. Insurance companies and lawyers for the at-fault party are often the wolves in sheepskins who try to get you to sign documents which they later use against you. You can avoid these traps by having an attorney manage your communications.